Ferrari World Abu Dhabi: Inside the world's biggest indoor theme park

The world's largest indoor theme park celebrates the arrival of F1 racing in
Abu Dhabi. Roland Hancock gives it a test drive.

By Roland Hancock

12:52PM GMT 11 Nov 2010

"What on Earth is that?" I asked my taxi driver, peering into the desert gloom. Even at 1am, groggy after a seven-hour flight, a massive luminescent whale stranded in the desert and winking a thousand lights at me seemed odd. "It's part of the new Formula One complex," he replied casually, "we built it a few months ago."

As we continued along the deserted motorway, beyond the distressed-looking whale, there was an even bigger structure – a triangular moon base with sinuous arms stretching off toward the horizon, all painted a racing-car red.

Welcome to Abu Dhabi, a place where untold wealth and furious ambition are combining to create a wonderfully hallucinatory holiday destination. The surreal whale-and-moon base estate (all huge steel and glass structures rising from the dusty desert floor) are part of Yas Marina, a dramatic new complex built to honour the local Formula One track, and opening to coincide with the sport's circus arriving for the last meet of the 2010 season this weekend.

The moon base, I found out the next day, is in fact Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, an enormous indoor theme park-cum-homage to the world's most prestigious racing brand; or a vulgar exercise in commercial idolatry, depending on your view.

But nobody can deny the impressive scale of this hermetically sealed wonderland. Housed under a tent-like roof similar to the O2 Arena, this is the world's biggest indoor theme park. It is the size of a small English town, holding more than 20 rides, and is icily air-conditioned. Having just touched down from London, I kept asking myself, stupidly, how anyone got the planning permission to build the damned thing. Because it's in the desert, dumbo, not Dulwich.

Inside the neon tube-lit entrance hall I was surrounded by an orchestra of Ferrari engines firing up, and, throughout the theme park, rare and beautiful examples of the famous Prancing Stallion sports cars loomed or slowly rotated overhead.

Between the tree-like steel supports shooting high into the sky were clusters of rides, each self-contained attraction looking like a contemporary boutique hotel from the outside, unlike some of the rickety peeling-paint warehouses that we have in British theme parks.

The pièce de résistance is the Formula Rossa roller-coaster, the fastest in the world at a shade under 150mph, and designed to induce the same g-force that Formula One drivers feel at full tilt. Not even the Ferrari World's mighty structure can contain it; most of the ride involves being thrust out of the building and into the blazing desert, swooping high above the tarmac track.

A 200ft metal spike in the centre of the building propels people vertically to the heavens before casting them back down to the ground. Apparently, designers reluctantly agreed on its size because any higher and it would have interfered with planes coming in and out of the nearby airport.

But before anybody gets too breathless about the PR babble I should sound a note of caution. Despite the state paying top dollar for the park, high drama was not far away. A neighbouring sheikh died on the afternoon of the planned grand opening of the park late last month, obliging organisers to delay the ceremony and allow access to only a few members of the media.

This meant that we experienced the park in a spooky, not-quite-open atmosphere, while the two main attractions weren't properly up and running. One attendant told me this was out of respect for the sheikh. As I watched some engineers strap themselves in, fire up the rides for a few seconds and then walk away scratching their heads, I wasn't convinced.

Late in the night Formula Rossa was rumoured to have opened for 15 minutes, but by the time I had raced from one end of the huge park to the other, it had closed again. Somewhat alarmingly, men with torches were crawling along its track looking for something very small. Whatever happened, I'm afraid my witty remark about the world's fastest ride becoming its slowest was lost on the crestfallen attendant.

Having said this, all the rides were impressively solid, and the trouble seemed to be due to an emphasis on safety rather than a lack of it. Since its subsequent public opening on November 4, the park has been fully functional with no problems.

Of those rides that I did manage to try, what they lacked in speed they made up for with impressive technology. Speed of Magic, for example, is basically a sofa that twists and turns on hydraulic legs while a 3D film shows animated car chases across deserts, jungles and underwater. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I have no doubt that my 10-year-old self would have repeated the experience until green around the gills. I want a similar sofa for my flat.

While you can't drive any actual Ferraris around the park, some of the simulators hoisted up on hydraulic legs jerk you around corners and jolt you through gear changes. Farther down the excitement scale are dodgems for smaller children, and a rather unromantic "tunnel of love" featuring miniature versions of Italian architectural classics.

One gem which I returned to again and again was an almost overlooked corner of the park where one could enter and control a wind tunnel anywhere from zero to 60mph. It brought back pleasant memories of blustery walks in the Peak District.

Hugely fun and a little deranged, Ferrari World is designed with children in mind, although what is really impressive is the detail. For example, instead of offering the traditional greasy chips and fluorescent sugar drinks, the park has no fewer than four Michelin-starred chefs in its restaurants.

And get this for twisted logic: tickets are divided not into adult and children's prices, but by height – short and tall. Thus Danny DeVito (at 4ft 11in) would pay a quarter less than a 10 year-old just over the arbitrary 5ft limit. As far as I can remember, theme parks were all about standing on your tiptoes to get on to the big kids' rides. Not here.

After such a mind-bending night it was all I could do to find some rest, and Yas Marina is the place to do it. There are no fewer than six hotels within a three-minute drive of the park, the main one being the conveniently named Yas Hotel – known to me as the mournful blue whale I had seen on the way in.

Built specifically to house Formula One teams and fans, it is a grand complex inhabiting the grey area between cutting-edge style and absurd bling, all plush white carpets, wavy organic lines and incredible Mercedes parked on the drive. For that added frisson during the Formula One weekend, one of its bars is built on a bridge over the track. Facetious descriptions aside, the place is actually quite beautiful from the outside, shimmering away in the Arabian night, its colours morphing over a period of hours.

But this little hacienda is not the limit of Abu Dhabi's ambitions. A world-class hotel, a racing track, a theme park – these are just the tip of this desert's iceberg. The island next door (there are more than 200 off the Emirates coast) is already being prepared for yet more steel and glass oddities, for this is the site of the Saadiyat Cultural District.

Jokes about the current cultural desert do not go down well. Nor do they make much sense when you learn that the state is spending over £16.7 billion on the project. The Louvre and the Guggenheim have already signed up to have permanent museums there by 2013, and Lord Foster has designed the Zayed National Museum to stand alongside them. It is to be filled, according to a deal for an undisclosed sum signed last year, with treasures on loan from the British Museum.

It's easy to sneer at these oil-rich types as they flash their cash around Europe, buying up its antiques, but it's no more or less than collectors and museums in New York and LA have done for generations. And Abu Dhabi's pretensions are not so far fetched. With average temperatures in the winter a sun-drenched 104F (40C) and Dubai down the road suffering from a paucity of things to actually see and do, if the sheikhs here can get the mix of adrenalin-pumping parks and cultural oases right, there's no reason tourists shouldn't come flocking.

Entry to Ferrari World Abu Dhabi costs £38 (AED225) for people over 4ft 11in and £28 for those shorter

Etihad Airways (0800 731 9384; www.etihadairways.com) flies from London Heathrow and Manchester to Abu Dhabi, with return flights from £384

Abu Dhabi basics

Other attractions

The Corniche serves as the city's tourist hub, with two miles of pristine natural beach opened in 2008 and about six miles of green parks. Good for a cool evening stroll (£5/AED 30 for beach access).

Sheikh Zayed Mosque was built in honour of the man who brought the United Arab Emirates together. It can accommodate 40,000 worshippers, contains the world's largest carpet and chandelier, and features a special cooling marble underfoot outside. Since the Sheikh's death in 2004, a tag team of imams can be heard chanting non-stop from the Koran over his grave.

Inevitably, there is a golf course on Yas Island, which is about 20 minutes' drive outside the city and 10 minutes from the airport. Other activities include camel rides, and farther out in the desert you can drive over dunes in a four-wheel drive (£51 for adults, £47 for children for half a day with Arabian Adventures; www.arabian-adventures.com) A day out at the camel races is a national pastime (free to watch at the Al Wathba racetrack).

Places to stay

The Yas Hotel (00971 2 656 0000; www.theyashotel.com) is part of the F1 complex and offers a range of options, with villas built all the way up to the trackside, where the teams themselves stay. Doubles from £215, including breakfast and airport transfers.

The Yas Rotana (656 4000; www.rotana.com) is a slightly more economical option, a four-star hotel with many of the luxury trappings of its elder sister. Doubles from £109, including breakfast and two tickets to Ferrari World.

Alongside the Yas Rotana there is a plethora of international hotels, from the Crowne Plaza to the Radisson Blu, all of which were completed within the last year.